West of Mars -- the Meet and Greet

Now, I'm TOTALLY not complaining that I seem to get tagged in spurts like this. It makes it much easier to answer these tags and still have room for fiction.

Therefore... let's get on with the meme...

Both Erica and Red tagged me for the eight random things meme, but Erica explicitly asked for a band member's eight things, or eight things about the official ShapeShifter band mom, Sonya Voss.

It took awhile before anyone fully stepped up to the plate. Kerri is Sonya's daughter-in-law and was afraid she'd be seen as being a kiss-up if she said too much. Trevor didn't want to say anything nice in public, of course. Amy's busy with a patient. So that left… Good Old Dependable Mitchell.

Or, as Trevor calls him -- for good reason -- The Big Idiot.

Eight things about Ma:

1. She knows I only call her Ma to get under her skin. And since she knows that, she's always ignoring it. But I do it anyway 'cause now I'm stuck doing it.

2. She used to send us care packages on the road. She'd even fill the boxes with rubbers and underwear, especially on that last tour before I met Kerri, when the girls we'd let into the dressing room decided it was fun to steal our underwear when we dropped them.

3. She let us practice in the basement. We're a loud band, but she never complained, even when we weren't around. She'd just tell people she was glad she knew where we were.

4. Sometimes, she'd complain. If we were working on a song that sucked, she'd tell us. Every now and then, she had suggestions to make the song better. Not enough to turn herself into a pain in the ass, but when she said something, we'd listen and follow. It usually worked, too.

5. When I conned Kerri into meeting her, Ma treated Kerri like she was already a member of the family. Kerri was the first girl I ever did more than sleep with; that was probably all the tip-off Ma needed.

6. Ma and Dad used to come to all our shows. I mean ALL. They never missed a damn show. Sometimes, they were the only people in there. Now that we're big, they still come whenever we're in town. Even when we play Wolf Whistle shows. We have to save them two spots, even when we don't want to.

7. No one'll talk about it, but I think it was Ma's idea to let Trevor come live with us. She was always fast to tell anyone that she always wanted a second boy and that Trevor was better than a baby 'cause she didn't have to deal with his diapers. Trev hates it when she says that; he thinks he's too cool to have ever needed diapers. Amy says he probably didn't get out of them until he was seven. She might be right.

8. This is how cool Ma is: whenever she has the family over, she makes sure the entire band comes. With steady girls, if we've got 'em. And when I'm on the road but Kerri's at home, Ma makes sure Kerri comes to dinner a few times. She's sorta like Val; she likes to cook for the people she loves. Val's the better cook, of course, but don't tell Ma that. She might get a complex, but for a cook who didn't go to cook's school, she's damn good.

As for who to tag, here are the rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Hey, notice how you don't have to link back to anyone? Well, let's fix that. Feel free to link back to me, okay? I love new groupies!

And next to share… Karen, Milan, Dewey, she, Claire, Breeni, Nimrodiel, and littlebirdblue. Yep, a lot of book friends you may not be familiar with. Why aren't you?



I only get to hound you for ten more days with this. Aren't you glad? I am.

And if you've missed it somehow, Just a reminder... go vote for me!




Yes, I'm totally going to torture you with this until the voting closes on May 22. So go vote, will ya? If you've already voted, why not register under another e-mail address? You'll get to vote again that way!

(PS -- I've got my first sunburn of the year. I'm not happy about that. *sniff*)

Labels: Blogger's Choice Award, meme, Mitchell, mothers, Sonya, Writing Aspirations